Investment fee changes at legalsuper

legalsuper has announced changes to its insurance and investment fees in light of the fund’s recent performance.

In an update, the firm said there would be an increase in investment manager performance fees from 1 April, 2023.

For members in the default MySuper Balanced option, estimated investment fees and costs would increase from 0.48% to 0.51% while estimated performance fees and transaction costs would remain unchanged at 0.06% and 0.15% respectively.

Members in the Growth option would see investment fees and costs also increase from 0.48% to 0.51% while High Growth would increase from 0.47% to 0.51%. The estimated transaction costs would increase from 0.14% to 0.15% for growth members and from 0.13% to 0.15% for high growth members.

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High Growth members would see no change to estimated performance fees but Growth members would increase from 0.05% to 0.06%.

“Our team of investment professionals design and manage our portfolios to be resilient in a wide range of market scenarios across a full business cycle,” the fund said.

“Our smaller size enables us to take advantage of opportunities generally not available to larger funds, whilst providing greater downside protection to address volatility, and deliver competitive risk-adjusted returns. We believe that this approach leads to a better outcome for our members.”

According to SuperRatings, the legalsuper fund had returned 7.7% over 10 years to 31 December, 2022.

In the insurance space, cover amounts for unitised cover would change in a phased process, including the default levels for death and total and permanent disablement (TPD) cover. Instead of the same amount of death and TPD cover for all members, it would now be variable based on the members’ age.

Premium rates had been adjusted to remove some age-based cross-subsidies and the age to be eligible for insurance cover had increased from 11 to 15 years.

“In recent times, industry regulators have provided guidance about insurance in super and how it can be improved, with a particular focus on improving fairness and equity for all members, whilst balancing insurance and retirement needs.

“In response to changes in the industry, we have conducted a detailed review of our insurance arrangements. The review has resulted in some changes to our insurance offering in relation to both product design and cost of cover.

“These changes will make our offering more relevant to our membership and ensure there is an appropriate balance between levels of cover, premiums, and retirement savings. They will also partially remove some aged-based premium cross-subsidies, so our insurance offering is fairer for all members.”